Hi Don,
I was reading trugh the forum s bit and l have a question.
You wood and charcoal powered the same engine. Culd you describe a bit the comparrison of both? Turndown ratio, max power, …
Thanks
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Hi Kristijan,
Performance on the road is pretty much the same with wood and charcoal as long as water drip is added to the charcoal. Charcoal is really nice for short trips because it makes gas quick at startup and there is practically no smell or smoke. Turn down ratio is better on charcoal. I can maintain gas producing temperature for long periods even while running my 12 hp generator. I can use the charcoal the next day after I make it. (no drying time needed). Making charcoal is a slow, dirty business compared to chunking wood though and the waste heat bothers me even though the wood is free. That said, I am anxiously ready to get back to wood chunks with my S-10 I am building.
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Don sorry too hear you were bed captured for so long, but am Glad you were able too find the problem before it got worse, we enjoy your projects with all the excellent feed back solutions.Hope for your best recoverys God Speed.Through jesus.Thanks.
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Hi Kevin, I am not sure where you got your information from but I am happy to say that the only bed capture I get is usually from 10:30 PM to 6 AM. Thanks anyway for your concern. At my age you never know when you need it.
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Glad your feeling good again, i was thinking when i went too the emergincy room and they put the white gown on till the doc gets there i felt sort of captured once i signed too pay for the cost., i probly should have got dressed and left as all the doc did is add 3 more stitches from what the general doc all readu did the same night.and the bill was over 10.000 counting anisteeza.I hit my nuckel an grinder and cut the tenden off and lost part of the grizel. It would have worked just as well with duck tape for that price,as that nuckel id non working anyway. hope trump can turn down medicle cost.
Thank you for the report Don! Water injection in a char gasser makes so much difference yes…
Kevin,
Thats terrible! 10000 dolars right? Not 100.00?
Your medacal/insurance sistem is unclear to me.
Here, everyone is obligated to pay 17.80€ (about the same in $) per month of insurance. For imployed people, the company pays it. Otherwise you pay it your self and if you cant, the goverment does. This covers all emergancy and basic medical assistance. We allso pay a optional insurance, 27€ a month, this covers everything else. Thats it. No matter if the bill for the treatment is 200 000$, you dontpay a cent.
Hope your goverment comes up with a better system.
Sorry Don for the offtopic.
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Thanks for the reply. Kristijan 10.000 luckilly i was able too dodge the charge . as i am self imployed some what, though not rich enough for the fraudstirs medicle scam. Sorry for off topicing Don. We can delete if requested.
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You also mentioned that gas cooling after exiting the gasifier is not really needed yes? Is this still your thoughts? I recall you mentioning bulk and weight was much less with the charcoal setup as well? Easier to build and easier to run? No tar/condensate to collect and dispose of? Not much char/fines to dump? Looks like your nozzle design has solved a typical charcoal gasifier problem too!
How do you find the soot build up in the pipes and intake with charcoal compared to wood?
I’ve read this thread with great interest. My driving would be short trips, going into the city and back amongst traffic, and driving in winter temps as low as -30 deg C. Also some long freeway driving. I’m thinking charcoal may be better for me than wood.
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Charcoal is an excellent insulator and with the updraft design, the gas loses most of its heat by the time it gets through the charcoal to the exit at the top.It does heat up fast when empty though.
[quote=“Strawman, post:248, topic:2439”]
How do you find the soot build up in the pipes and intake with charcoal compared to wood?
Cleaner on charcoal.
My twin cyclones spin out most of the soot when exiting the gasifier and secondly charcoal has most of the moisture released during the charcoal making process so the gas is dryer to start with which helps to keep the soot from clogging up the system.
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Thanks Don!
Just to confirm - you are not collecting water or tar from your system at any point? This is important for me as I would be driving in sub zero temperatures.
I expect good char should be pretty dry and mostly tar free.
If charcoal would allow me to not have to deal with moisture in the system, that would be a huge everyday benefit in the winter time.
That is right Will, I collect very little water if any in the system under normal operation. I had it once when I forgot to turn off the water drip and the next time I emptied the cyclones canisters - there was water in there.
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That is excellent - thanks!
Hi Will,
I know this is a delicate matter and I’ve never yet visited the dark side in person…but…a wood gasifier is possible even in subzero temps, even with wet filtering, if you just empty your condensation while things are still warm from driving.
I’ve done just about all my everyday driving this past year (10 000 km) on wood. I voted for wifes car only once when we had -25C and the reason was not gasifier related - the Rabbit wouldn’t start even on gasoline. Just saying.
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Hi Jan - thanks for the info, I’m still collecting it There is another member here who lives up in Northern Ontario with a few YT vids detailing all the processes of torch heating the valves and caps etc… to get it started below zero. I don’t want to get into that stuff 
Off topic: how do you pronounce your name in Swedish vs English? We named our youngest Jan because my parents are Dutch - it is pronounced “Yun” in Dutch, we say it phonetically in English
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I use no different startup procedures in wintertime, except maybe shoveling snow off the bed sometimes
Jan is pronounced with an open “a” here, like the Brittish would pronounce “maaarvelous”. I guess pretty much as in the Dutch way without having much knowlidge of the language. Only thing I know it’s a mix of English and German, right?
Tell your youngest he´s got the best name ever
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I don’t know squat about the Dutch language (other than a few curse words) as I was born here in Canada, I grew up listening to loads of it spoken though.
My Parents are from Friesland and speak West Frisian - this language is well known for its similarity to English as the old saying goes:
Brea, bûter en griene tsiis is goed Ingelsk en goed Frysk".
(In English: “Bread, butter and green cheese is good English and good Fries”)
I’ll let Jan know about his cool name - but he already knows! I’ll bet in Europe and Scandanavia it is probably a pretty common name, but over here it is very rare for a boy to be named Jan.
I’m going to keep counting and weighing the benefits/drawbacks of charcoal compared to wood. I’m am really glad Don did both on the same vehicle - hard to beat that experience to really speak of the differences.
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Hi,Will!
4.7.2017
What comes to sub zero Celsius operation, there is no waterfree
“black magic” available.
Effective charcoal gasification needs its water to produce hydrogen and wood has it “inboards” already, without freezing problems.
Thats the starting point. “Charcoal water” you have to keep in the house and fill up for each and every trip if you do not have a warm garage.
With wood, it’s the opposite; draining at close-down. (and intermittently)
When you plan a winter woodgas system, a “royal” thought is to keep in mind the heating–cooling–heating which is unevitable to avoid freezing and plugging.
That is: You cannot go out from the gasifier in an uninterrupted chain, always
further and further away from the gasifier with each added component!
No, you have to come back for reheating more or less to keep the components either just warm or (for called upon) real re-heating for the cleaning process!
That takes good planning, as each (cleaning) component needs to be easily emptied from soot.
This means, that a gasifier cannot be crammed alone in a norrow corner; service availability to do the daily emptyings of soot and condense has to be a “clean hand” job as far as possible.
Proud and happy driver!
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Hi Max - thanks for the input.
Sounds like if super cold weather is afoot, maybe I’d be best served just letting the vehicle idle all night
Hey if the fuel is free…
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Hi Will!
4.7.2017
No need with long idles; no silo lasts whole a night!
That would lead to a self-imposed “cathastrophe”!
A cool gas-plant at -30*C is easy to start up, the low absolute humidity in gas reaching the motor makes it easier to start up on woodgas than gasoline!
Gasoline vaporization needs heat energy while woodgas is dry as is!
(at -30*C)
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The only reason l do not use charcoal anymore is you loose too much heat/time produceing it.
Plus, if l run out of wood 200miles from home, lll buy a bag of woodchips or pellets or saw my own at a near forest. If l run out of charcoal…
Otherwise, there is not a bad thing l kan say for a charcoal gasifier. Its low profile, economical, and fast to make the sistem, hell, give me a ryde and l am sure l can char gas it in a days work. Woodgasing requires at least a week.
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